Are 10-team MLS playoffs a preview of what’s coming in baseball?

In the wake of a pre-emptively rained out and actually drizzled out Game 6 of the World Series in St. Louis, the most interesting sporting event to a baseball fan may have taken place in the Metroplex last night.

It was on the surface unrelated, a playoff matchup in a sport that many baseball fans care nothing about as the New York Red Bulls defeated FC Dallas in a matchup of two of Major League Soccer’s wild cards.

The win, however, of the Red Bulls (10-8-16, 46 points) over homestanding FC Dallas (15-12-7, 52 points) may be a preview of exactly what commissioner Bud Selig is trying to establish in baseball in the next

Major League Soccer’s format is, though the timing of breaks and series lengths is completely different, almost a copy of what a 10-team Major League Baseball playoff would be. If it goes through for 2013 in the next collective bargaining agreement, possibly with the Astros moving to the American League, five teams from each league would make the playoffs with three division winners and two wild cards.

Three teams from each, in MLS’ case conference and in MLB’s case league, sit and wait while two wild cards play each other for the right to play the top seed.

The debate about whether to expand the playoffs, really an unfair debate when commissioner Bud Selig has the hammer in his hand, has always been put in what-ifs. It would have denied us the Red Sox-Rays drama and the Braves-Cardinals drama but only assuming everything would have played out the same with different goals.

Now we have something concrete to look at as an example.

My colleague and Dynamo beat writer Jose de Jesus Ortiz tweeted this morning (@OrtizKicks) “Love the MLS wild-card format. It forces the wild card to play extra game while auto qualifiers rest.”

If you want to see the best teams possible in the World Series, it can be argued that letting the No. 5 team from each league in the playoffs could actually be a positive. Making the two wild cards put everything they have into winning a one-game playoff (or best-of-3 or however it is finalized) may give the No. 1 seed, which has been able to set its rotation even more of an advantage.

Take out the silly rule against divisional opponents, then. While it didn’t work out for the 1-seeded Phillies, the 1-seeded Yankees got a team that was ready in the Tigers since the scrambling wild card was in their division, while Texas got to play the Rays.

Of course, the Red Bulls are an example of what can go wrong. A team that showed over a long season to be inferior (in the standings, no expertise on the game claimed), six points behind yesterday’s opponent, 21 points worse than their next opponent, is two wins away from a date in the MLS Cup. One in a two-leg quarterfinal and one in a conference final.

Especially in baseball when anything can happen in a short series – the better team wins a lot less than in other sports, say basketball and football – is it too easy for the fifth best team in a league to represent the league in the final.

Like soccer or not, the issues presented in the MLS playoffs are fairly indicative of what baseball fans could be seeing in 2013.